As the season’s first snowfall fittingly swirled around their South End headquarters, Ballet leaders unveiled the changes facing this season’s “Nutcracker,” which opens Nov. 26 at the Boylston Street theater. .... At a press conference in the Ballet’s offices on Clarendon Street yesterday, Executive Director Valerie Wilder and Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen took turns explaining the new partnerships (with Broadway in Boston/Clear Channel) and new artistic direction (extensive reworking of Act I, advanced lighting technology) that will characterize this year’s production

Boston Ballet has talked for months about reinventing “The Nutcracker” in the cozy confines of the Colonial Theatre. Yesterday, company leaders unveiled a long list of changes the audience will see when the curtain opens on a 45-show run Nov. 26.

There will be new sets, new costumes, and new choreography. The opening and closing scenes of the story will be different.

I understand from a friend that ticket sales are down for the Boston Ballet Nut. I hope the two posted articles will help remind Bostonians what Valerie Wilder emphasized. The Boston Ballet dancers are part of the Boston community and that the Boston Ballet is a longtime Boston institution. The Rockettes are a New York institution in my eyes, and I will not support them over the Boston Ballet. If I had to make a choice between tickets, I would buy Ballet tickets. Personally, I wouldn't buy Rockette tickets anyway, so I'll go see the Nut several times.

Be that as it may, however, the companies (and there are a few) touring the US with the Radio City Christmas Show are not employing the Rockettes who dance at Radio City, but are rather pickup companies (there aren't THAT many Rockettes, after all).

Yes, that is true, but I would venture to say that the Rockettes dancing in Boston this year are probably not from Boston. Perhaps I am wrong. I know of one girl from the Pennsylvania area who auditioned in NYC and has ended up dancing for them somewhere in the mid-West. In addition, let me just mention that as a parent I would not buy tickets to this show just because of what I read on the Radio City website. I quote, "'White Christmas in New York' glistens on stage with The Rockettes donning a sexy new costume" and "'Santa's Workshop' ... these leggy reindeers, portrayed by the Rockettes, are bound to make Santa's ride much more exciting." With all of those innuendos, I'll stick to having my kids see Clara, the Snow Queen and the Sugar Plum Fairy, all of whom live and work in the Boston area.

The production Boston Ballet is bringing to the Colonial is being billed as “more spectacular than ever,” and though that has the sound of hype, the details that Wilder and Nissinen provided Friday were all substance.

.... local arts leaders haven’t had much fun visiting their box offices in recent weeks. They’ve seen ticket sales soften and their high hopes of hitting revenue goals dwindle during the all-important holiday season.

While Radio City officials say they’re selling more tickets than they expected, the locals who once owned the holiday box office -- including Boston Ballet, Revels, and the Handel and Haydn Society -- are sharing an unwelcome problem: They’re all running behind last year’s pace for ticket sales.

By the way, in an effort to increase ticket sales Boston Ballet is offering $10 off the regular ticket price for many tickets during the first couple of weeks' performances, including Friday nights and late Sunday afternoons. Details are found here.

If “The Nutcracker” hadn’t been kicked out of the Wang Theatre this year, would Boston Ballet have bothered to update its production?

Anyone who’s followed the beloved tradition knows Boston Ballet delivers a big, spectacular “Nutcracker” every Christmas season, well-coordinated through its lavish set designs, costumes, lighting and first-rate orchestra, but choreographically a sort of vaudeville.

.... Nissinen worked with set designer Walt Spangler and lighting designer Pierre Lavoie to craft a tighter, more disciplined production that retains most of the elements of Boston Ballet's original work (a relief to Marzipan fans worldwide). Nissinen has reworked staging, choreography, and parts of the story line to make clear that all this is springing from the dreams of the young protagonist, Clara.

Forget the Red Sox and the Yankees - there’s a new Boston-New York rivalry in town. .... Like their hometowns, “The Nutcracker” and the “Christmas Spectacular” are as different as clam chowder and cheesecake, the Hancock Tower and the Empire State Building. Call it a holiday dance-off between high art and high kicks.

“Reduced” doesn’t have to be a negative term. It can mean the concentrated essence. Think of lobster stock, becoming more intense as it boils. .... In Nissinen’s new “Nutcracker” the dancing and the dancers shine, reminding you of what you never get to see in the barn-like ambience of the Wang.

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